Eye care adviser named on New Year Honours List

David O’Sullivan, chief optometric advisor to the Welsh government, described receiving an OBE for services to eye care in the New Year Honours List as a pleasant surprise.

He told Optician: ‘I have been very lucky in my career as an optometrist and an optometric adviser to have worked in Wales.’

O’Sullivan was appointed as the first local optometric adviser in Wales over 20 years ago on what was then the Carmarthenshire Local Health Group, which later became Hywel Dda Local Health Board, and he later built on these relationships in the same role for Cardiff and the Vale.

‘To be recognised for the part that I have played over the past 20 years is a privilege, but also a testament to the forward thinking and progressive nature of eye care services in Wales,’ O’Sullivan said.